The American Express Skybox is furnished with comfortable seating, views of two runways — and a full bar. (Photo provided by American Express)

Friends often offer to “carry my bags” or “be my assistant,” as if that was even an option, when I announce I’m heading off to cover Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City. The reality is that it’s not all glitz and glamour. For me, it is work covering the shows: scrambling for invitations and seats, running all over town day and night, taking notes and photos, doing interviews, tweeting, posting on Facebook, etc. Then it’s time to write and file stories, attaching photos. The next day, you do it all over again.

What would be fun, I’ve decided, is to attend Fashion Week purely as a fashion lover. People have been doing that for a number of seasons from the cushy reaches of what American Express calls its “Skybox” at Lincoln Center.

For a range of fees that start at about $225 per person for a couple of shows (for Cardmembers only, natch) you get to be whisked up to a lounge that overlooks the two biggest venues at the show site. Admittedly, you’re not close enough to brush knees with the front row crowd or hear the jeers from the photo pit, but you’re also sitting on plush benches and being offered a full bar and hors d’oeuvres. And to keep their patrons entertained, the sponsors have fashion industry experts do Q&A sessions for the assembled in between the shows.

[media-credit id=147 align=”alignright” width=”270″][/media-credit] Chris and Myca Loar of Denver, in the American Express Skybox.

On the afternoon we visited during the recent shows, the featured guest was Valerie Steele, the fashion historian and director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She talked about the museum’s new exhibit, “Shoe Obsession,” impressing a roster of guests that included Denver residents Chris and Myca Loar.

The young couple decided to see shows via the Skybox because of Myca’s love of fashion and would consider doing it again. Myca, an interior designer, said she liked the “VIP experience” of the box. “It’s a really great way to see the shows,” Myca said between watching the fall runway collections of Custo Barcelona and Diane Von Furstenberg.

Amex offered a couple of other ways to experience style during Fashion Week, including shows and food tastings at a VIP lounge at MADE at Milk Studios, where packages were $100-$125, and a Carolina Herrera CH cardmember-only show, where tickets went for $100-$275.

Tickets typically go on sale about four to six weeks in advance, according to an American Express spokeswoman.